Insight and humour into the madness of my life and the world around it.

The waiting game.

Today has been insane, without a doubt. luckily I have managed to beat jet lag with the way I slept on the way over here/last night.

so a run down of today in its entirety and good lord was it a long one.

5.45am up and onto the bus with everyone (even from different camps) dropping people off at diff airports. We managed a whistlestop tour of New York which involved the bus shooting through town and us going “theres ……” and then it was gone and rinse repeating this while trying to snap photos!

I did manage to get some pretty photos of new york from the bus however including a stunning shot of grand cetral station http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/ eventually we got to laguardia airport and checked our bagagge and e ticket with only mild confusion and only slightly terrifying security checks this time round. When i say we im referring to the “international councillors” there are 9 of us and at this point 8 of us had arrived and were flying to DC. The last was flying straight from Heathrow and meeting us there. By the time we were checked in it was only 8 30. we still had 4 hours till our plan left. What an agonizing wait, we all gathered round a table and pretty much passed out until 11 30 then headed to our gate. to then wait another hour because they had to switch the planes and do maintenace on them. Then we board the tiniest rickety looking plane that probably needed winding up to start!! another hour later and we have arrived in DC. Greeted by the fabulous Lamar, the man who hired us all. We dumped our stuff in the car and another hours wait and Beth made it through customs. the next two hours pretty much consisted of driving, a late lunch and us BOMBARDING Lamar with questions. (Im sure all of you guys are full of the same suspenseful questions about our host families.)

Turns out there were major pullouts but we had got workarounds and had temp places until Monday when we would go to our houses. however the 3 boys (me, brandon and andy) still didnt have a place, Oops. Lamar said not to worry, i can assure you after the best part of 12 hours travelling, 12 the day before and weeks of not knowing we were all worried, a little stressed and of course concerned we didnt yet have a bed.

The people so far all over America had been so nice, Lamar included, we couldnt begrudge them and knew something would come up.

We next found out today was a massive free “fair day” at the center, free food music rides and entertainment. (SWEEET)

Arriving at the center lamar gave us the grand tour then let us go wander, the facilities are top notch and everyone is clearly so close, very picturesque suburban America.

I wandered off from the group and jsut started chatting to folks, I started talking to a staff member Maxi. explaining who i was, my interests, where i was from, that I had brought stuff from my home and how much i loved both Scotland and America. Thinking nothing of it and just making friends. I was later informed that unintentionally I had charmed and convinced Maxi into changing his mind and taking the 3 of us for the WHOLE summer into his brand new house. (prime example of scottish charm) I was feeling pretty pleased and to top it off we would be placed in a hotel until monday, Not just any hotel the Marriot hotel about 300ft from the pentagon. $400 dollars per person per night :O. at the camps expense. we were shocked, so eventually we get here at about 10 30. The staff who had worked all day went out their way to get us here even though we could have got public transport. (I got back in the car with Maxi and we procedded to talk music) This guy and his wife are lovely, and hes built like a professional body builder, I am defo hitting the gym with this guy…

A quick (soft) drink and a game of pool in the hotel and now back to our apartment/room for bed. The guys are out like lights but I wanted to get this out my system as I am genuinely enjoying writing this, I realise there is still no photos but the guys are asleep and dont wanna root around my case. I dunno if I am doing this right or im just splurging on the page but It feels good.

Meeting some of the kids today and all i can say they are brimming with confidence, and cheekiness! 😛

I have already recieved such comments as “you are the opposite of beautiful” “look like casper” “potato head” and “weird” the kids are clearly just testing the waters and boundaries and of course my accent sounds crazy to them but i played along and took it on the chin, the other guys found it hilarious.

So with that i will call it quits for the day, we have opted to help at the charity carwash tomorrow from 9 till 3, its baking hot atm so not a bad way to spend the day (yes mum i have bought sunscreen and already using it)photos are on the way tomorrow and we just have training all of this week, no kids till the following monday ! also for anyone interested the camp has organised tons of weekend events to go to themeparks, trips, mueseums and waterparks (without the kids, and i think for free) to show us a bit of america!! :D:D:D:D:D:D

so thats a unedited, ranty, listy run down of the last 24 hours. goodnight y’all

“The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking”
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – 2006)